While remote learning led to significant challenges around assessment, it also offered opportunities to rethink approaches to assignments and exams. Over the course of the 2020-2021 academic year, many faculty considered new ways to develop authentic assessments of student learning and incorporated different means by which students could demonstrate their understanding of essential knowledge and skills. Many asked important questions about how to communicate to students the relevance of assessments to learning and how to protect the academic integrity of assessments.
In order to facilitate and provide a forum for reflections about assessment strategies, the Trent Teaching Commons convened an Assessment Working Group in the spring of 2020. Comprising faculty from diverse disciplines, the group set an agenda of assessment topics of interest and hosted topical workshops that included an overview of themes from the literature, faculty presentations and exemplars, and lively discussion.
In order to share more broadly the insights from these workshops, TTC Education Developers are working to create online resources about assessment practices. Below you will find the first of these resources, and we plan to add titles to our assessment library in the coming months.
Workshops and Events
If you are interested in exploring further challenges and possibilities in assessment at Trent, the Trent Teaching Commons invites you to join our Assessment Working Group. Contact Dana Capell for further details and to join the conversation.
Rethinking Exams Workshop
March 16, 2020
Professor Kateryna Keefer of Trent's Department of Psychology discussed her experience using take-home case studies rather than traditional exams.
Rethinking Student Feedback Workshop
April 21, 2020
Professor Fergal O’Hagan of the Department of Psychology discussed his experience using rubrics to provide students with feedback on their work.
Professor Liam Mitchell of the Cultural Studies department spoke about his experience recording comments on student papers.
Professor Susan Yates discussed the use of peer review in her upper year Biology course.